Critical Conversations-School Safety and Policing

This course will explore the origins of school policing as well as the racialized consequences of relying on police to enforce school discipline and safety. Over the past 50 years, schools—particularly in low-income Black and Latino communities— have become sites of increased criminalization of young people. Coupled with the rise of mass incarceration came a punitive turn toward Black and Latinx adolescents and the extension of youth policing from the neighborhood block to the classroom. Once in schools, the scrutiny and authority of law enforcement are often turned upon schoolchildren themselves, the very group that's supposed to be protected. This seminar will include a weekly conversation, moderated by students, with key stakeholders in this debate, including school and district leaders, organizers with the Movement for Black Lives (MBL), and with at least one School Resource Officer. The seminar is meant to elicit meaningful participation in this public debate from students. Assignments will include moderating in class discussions, live-tweeting weekly guest lectures with a course hashtag, and writing at least one editorial that could be submitted for publication, by the end of the